The satirical swipes of our bawdy forebears

Hats off — or perhaps it should be tits out — to Atlantic Books, who have produced for general readers the most sumptuous and beautiful history book in years. Vic Gatrell’s account of bawdy caricature at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries is neither the sort of television tie-in that will shift hundreds of thousands of copies nor a coffee-table volume meant to add lustre to its owner’s learning. It is an argued, engaged and sometimes tangled work of scholarship that deals with a neglected and necessary subject. We have long needed a new book about the unparalleled vigour and brilliance of engraved graphic work in England in the 18th century. Now we have not only a hugely informative text but also 289 finely printed colour illustrations. Everyone interested in satire, cartoons